''Four Upbuilding Discourses'' (''FUD'') is a book written by
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , ; ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danes, Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical tex ...
and published in December 1843.
Analysis
The first discourse is on the subject of the life of
Job, and the other three are exhortations to the reader to the virtues exhibited by Job:
faith
Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, inc ...
,
patience
or forbearance, is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances. Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect ...
, and
gratitude
Gratitude, thankfulness, or gratefulness is a feeling of appreciation (or similar positive response) by a recipient of another's kindness. This kindness can be gifts, help, favors, or another form of generosity to another person.
The word come ...
.
Kierkegaard throughout employs a strategy of repetition.
A few weeks before publishing the ''FUD'' Kierkegaard had published a tract entitled ''
Repetition: A Venture in Experimenting Psychology''.
Discourse 1: Job
The title of the first discourse is "The Lord gave, and the Lord took away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Danish: "Herren gav, Herren tog, Herrens Navn wære lovet."), a verse from the
Book of Job
The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...
.
The discourse recounts the story of Job's suffering, a topic shared with ''Repetition''.
This is the only discourse of the four where Job is explicitly mentioned.
Discourses 2, 3, and 4: virtues
The title of the second discourse is "Every good and every perfect gift comes from above." (Danish: "Al god Gave og al fuldkommen Gave er ovenfra.") and it deals with faith and doubt.
The third discourse deals with gratitude and generosity.
It also touches upon the idea of equality, specifically that everyone is equal "before God".
Written in the second person, addressing "you the reader" and stating that it is addressing someone who is already "favourably disposed" to the idea that gratitude and generosity actually are virtues in the first place, it comprises thirteen short stories of people going from lacking to exemplifying these virtues.
The title of the fourth and final discourse is "Gaining one's soul in patience." (Danish: "At erhverve sin Sjel i Taalmodighed.") and deals with patience.
In the collected ''
Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses'' this is followed by a second discourse on patience written in March 1844 and originally published in Kierkegaard's ''
Two Upbuilding Discourses''.
"Gaining one's soul" ends on a question, in fact on nested questions as the concluding paragraph begins with this question-within-a-question:
Footnotes
References
Sources
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See also
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Christian ethics
External links
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Books by Søren Kierkegaard
1843 books
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